Private Property and the Economic Teachings of the Early Church Fathers

Abstract

The economic teachings of the early Church Fathers unequivocally encourage and command the rich to give their wealth to poor. Their words are rich and edifying; and in the Eastern Orthodox Church, they carry authority. It is tempting, from our modern political context, to take them to imply that Divine justice requires the redistribution of wealth across society, and radical reform of the legal and economic systems we live under to ensure that there be no vast inequality between the economic standing of members of society-perhaps even the abolition of private property. This chapter outlines and contextualise the teachings found in the homilies of St. Basil the Great and St. John Chrysostom, and argues that they call for no particular political programme of economic reform or revolution. Rather, they take for granted a legal system of property rights, and make commands upon individuals based upon how they fare within that system. There is no case for the abolition of private property to be found in these teachings.

Keywords: Patristrics, Private Property